Apapa Car Explosion, Lagos Governor Calls For Vigilance

Barely 48 hours after a car bomb explosion occurred at the Apapa axis of Lagos state, killing about four persons and injuring others, the state governor, Babatunde Fashola has urged residence to be vigilant.

The Governor who asked Lagosians to engage any stranger in their neighborhood and report suspicious movement to security officials made the declaration Saturday during his 51st birthday at the commissioning of the ‘Fountain of Life Church’ main auditorium.

The governor said, “We will overcome the challenges by being vigilant and adaptive. By asking questions of things that are not normal. Things that failed to follow the original conduct of human behavior. By asking question from people who are strangers in our mist seeking to know where they came from and what their purpose was among us,” he said.

Eyewitness at the scene of the Apapa explosion have insisted that it was a car bomb as the driver rammed into the depot but authorities insists it wasn’t a terrorist attack.  Many believe the state government will be alarming members of the international community and residents if the actual account of the explosion is made public hence the need to kill the story, due to the number low casualty. Experts warned that the casualties would have been much more, if the explosion  had engulfed the huge number of fuel bearing tankers lining the area.

As fear grows if the terrorists are moving to Lagos, Fashola said, “We must no longer keep quite. I am sure that if we do these simple things, all will be well with us.” 

The death toll from the Apapa explosion so far, is put at 11, with several more injured and receiving treatment in hospitals around Lagos.

Though the governor is yet to comment over the explosion, he maintains that “By our action we will show that we have voted to live together; to live in peace and to respect one another’s choices. And it is from that respect that we can earn trust of one another and keep this state together.”

The governor advocated that religious organization should partner the government. “This is the partnership that must exist between the government and the people of different faiths. Religious organization in other advanced countries own business to support their government to provide job and keep the economy going.”

A just loaded fuel tanker was said to have exploded in a tank farm on Creek road, Apapa, Wednesday night, resulting in the said casualties. The Creek road area, and indeed much of Apapa is littered with tank farms.